The Pull
by viciouskit
Summary: I don't like a guy for, I don't know, three, maybe four years? And the first guy I like since then is what? Possibly gay. Possibly bi. And then, possibly my COUSIN? If that's not a sign to give up, I don't know what is... Sakura/Naruto, Sakura POV
1. Chapter 00

Disclaimer:I don't own anyone. If only I did…

A/N: Here's a fic based on truth. No joke. My life is one giant shojo manga. I don't typically read het fics, so slightly ironic that I'm writing one, but it kind of has to be this way in order for it to really work. This is written from Sakura's POV and won't have any hot, steamy lemons in it so don't get your hopes up. That might change later, but in all honesty, it's probably not going to happen.

AU in the real world. Possibly OOC, but what fic _isn't_ really. Interesting? Not so much? Let me know if it's worth continuing.

*~*~* Prologue *~*~*

My life. What. The. Fuck. I don't like a guy for, I don't know, three, four years maybe? And the first guy I like since then is what? Possibly gay. Possibly bi. And then, possibly my COUSIN? If that's not a sign to give up, I don't know what is.

I should have stopped these feelings from forming long before this point. I saw the signs, but against my better judgment, I went on ignoring them. Funny how that works. You go through life abiding by the rules, following the signs and stopping when you think you should and everything, more or less, works out for you. It's just that _one_ time you say "no, fuck the norm" that puts you in a world of chaos. Yeah okay, so maybe I'm over-exaggerating, but who the hell _doesn't_ over-exaggerate their personal situations?

It all started when I met _him_. I was immediately attracted when I first laid eyes on him. Now that I think about it, I'm not really sure why. He's not amazingly handsome or incredibly cute. He's just… him. Not ugly. Not hot. Yet somehow, incredibly_appealing_. I saw him before, I just couldn't remember exactly where. But when I walked into that office for my interview, I recognized his face from _somewhere_ and was attracted to him all over again. _Him_? As my _boss_? I could _definitely_get used to that. And lucky me, I got the job. Too bad not only did it come with his pretty face, but also a shit ton of drama.

Oh the drama. When will it end? I say I try to stay away from drama, and in all honesty, I really do. And yet I still somehow manage to throw myself into the midst of it all. But thus is the pattern of my life: hating something to the point of near avoidance, and then somehow ending up side by side with said hated object. Wonderful. Fan-fucking-tastic if you ask me.

And now here I am: a lost, confused mess of mixed up emotions and thoughts running so fast I can hardly keep up. If only I hadn't given into the pull that dragged me under…

*~*~* Chapter 01 Preview *~*~*

Summer started innocently enough. I had my good friend by my side, laughing and joking as we always did, and I had my attractive boss who I got to see first thing every morning during our training week. The staff all seemed like a bunch of sarcastic fun and jokes all around. It was shaping up to be a great summer. How could I have been so naïve? Throw a bunch of girls and a couple of gay guys in a group and that's just _asking_ for drama. Two straight guys. That's all we had to counteract the madness. And one of them was always MIA with his girlfriend. Not enough testosterone in the mix if you ask me. No one asked, but I was still right.


	2. Chapter 01

**Disclaimer: **I don't own anyone. If only I did…

**A/N: **Let's just get this straight from the get-go. Ignore most, if not all, character relations from the actual manga/anime. I tried to make it work, but for how I'm planning things… it doesn't necessarily fit the same. This is a fanfic. Work with me here haha

Also, just fyi, I haven't read the manga yet. I'm not sure if that really makes much of a difference though…

*~*~* Chapter 01 *~*~*

Summer started innocently enough. I had my good friend by my side, laughing and joking as we always did, and I had my attractive boss who I got to see first thing every morning during our training week. The staff all seemed like a sarcastically hilarious group of people with jokes all around. It was shaping up to be a great summer. How could I have been so naïve? Throw a bunch of girls and a couple of gay guys in a group and that's just _asking_ for drama. Two straight guys. That's all we had to counteract the madness. And one of them was always MIA with his girlfriend. Not enough testosterone in the mix if you ask me. No one asked, but I was still right.

"Lee! Wake up! We have to go to the meeting!" I looked at the clock. 7:50 a.m. The meeting started at 8:00. Luckily, the was being held in the conference room upstairs on the twelfth floor… not like that would help if my friend, Rock Lee, couldn't get his ass out of bed. I tried waking him up again.

"Ow! Sakura! What was that for?" Lee sat up rubbing his head. "You didn't have to punch me," he said, wincing.

"I wouldn't have had to if you would have just woken up when you were supposed to," I stated matter-of-factly. "Hurry up! We're going to be late!"

I was staying with Lee for the week until we got assigned to our own rooms. We were currently living in Kikyou-jou, one of the better, and more expensive, dorms on the University of Konoha campus. Over the summer, Kikyou-jou was being used as an almost-hotel. I say "almost" because the staff was made up of college students and we didn't exactly give the same customer service you'd receive at a star-rated hotel. Sure you got some sheets, a shitty pillow and a towel… okay so it wasn't all that great. But it was (probably) cheaper than staying at a nice, fancy place with room service, and at least there was A/C. The same couldn't be said for the other dorms, which is probably why they decided to use Kikyou-jou as the make-shift hotel.

Lee had dormed in Kikyou-jou during the school year so they told him to just keep his room until our individual rooms were ready for living. I, being the considerate friend I am, volunteered him to house me for the week so I wouldn't have to go through the trouble of figuring out those details on my own. He didn't mind since I had practically lived with him during the school year. College roommates and their boyfriends. Not exactly the best combination for a good night's sleep. Rock Lee was gay, so no questions were asked. The perks of having a gay friend by your side.

Rock Lee rushed around the room getting ready as I sat on my desk. "Any day now…"

"Shut up. I don't see you getting ready!"

"I already am." I looked at him pointedly.

"Whatever."

I looked out the window, watching the small images of people going about their business, completely unaware that people like me could see everything they did. I saw some fat guy look around to make sure no one was watching—no one ever thinks to look up to check for people looking down through their windows—and quickly shoved a pudgy hand down his pants to pick, what I could only assume, was one helluva wedgie. "Man, I hope they don't make us do any ice-breakers," I said, returning my attention back to Lee. He was still running around, looking busy but getting nothing done. "I _hate_ those. They are always so stupid and childish."

"Yeah true. I hope so too." He picked up his pink Hamtaro bag. The guy was definitely gay. "Okay, I'm ready, let's go!" he encouraged hurriedly, as if _I_ were the one we were waiting for. I shrugged, hopped off my desk and followed after him.

We got up to the twelfth floor conference room, the bells and key chains on his pink murse[1] announcing our presence. The five or so people who were in the room looked up. I scanned their faces. _Oh good, handsome boss-man is here_. I couldn't help smirking to myself. His tan skin and bleached blonde hair were so... _distracting_ for a lack of a better word. But what _really _got me was his smile. Call me cheesy, but I could _see_ the flowers and sparkles over a pink backdrop, framing his perfection. Okay, maybe I wasn't really cheesy… more like too much anime and shoujo manga in my spare time. I really needed to cut down on that.

The tables were arranged in a U-shape with our names on folders already laid out for us. Our three bosses' seats were in a row at the table between the other two sides of the U-shaped formation. Mr. Attractive Boss-Man was already in his seat, talking animatedly with a shorter girl, dark hair falling to her mid-back. I noted that the binder labeled with my name was right next to the girl—two seats away from my blonde boss. Naruto Uzumaki.

I took my seat next to the dark-haired girl, glancing over to read the name on her binder. Tsuchi Kin. She seemed kind of quiet, but I could tell by the way she was talking that she must have been pretty good friends with Naruto. A pang of jealousy that I didn't completely understand hit me full on. Sure I found him attractive, but it wasn't like I wanted to jump him and make him mine any time soon. Far from it in fact. Let's just say my past relationship wasn't exactly one to make me go gaga for anyone any time soon. Creepy stalker-status boys tend to do that to a girl. No, I was perfectly fine with appreciating good looks without actually going for them. Less drama that way.

At least, that's what I kept telling myself.

Rock Lee walked over to his seat. He was other side of that big U formation from me. I looked across at him, a playful frown on my face, tracing fake tears down my cheeks.

Slowly, the rest of our staff filtered in—some guy with a ridiculous purple shirt and white hair, a frighteningly large girl who could probably suffocate me if she sat on me, a macho-looking guy that looked like he could care less about this place, and a few others—followed by our other two bosses, a redhead and a brunette… in cosplay? The redhead was dressed in an extremely revealing yellow two-piece with a red jacket—if you could call it that—draped around her shoulders and tied loosely in the front. Her outfit complete with a matching yellow headband and white boots. The brunette was wearing a dark suit made for men with a pale yellow work shirt underneath and a tie loosely hanging around her neck.

I almost fell out of my chair. _We _are_ here to _work_… right?_ I was baffled, then I glanced at Naruto and sure enough, he was in costume too. I guess I didn't notice because he was sitting down… or I was just distracted by him being him. He wore a maroon-ish muscle shirt under a dark-colored vest with a cardboard box covering his left arm. He also had what looked like was supposed to be a scar drawn going down through his eyebrow and right eye. _What the fuck is he supposed to be?_

The redhead stood in front of us, adjusting her glasses. "I'm Karin! And that's," she pointed to the brunette, "Shizune, and this," she pointed to the Naruto "is my wittle Naru-boy." _Disgusting._ Naruto just smiled.

"That I am Ka-Ka!" he laughed.

"Don't call me that!" Karin raged for a grand total of two seconds before realizing she was our boss and yes, we were still there. Clearing her throat, she readjusted her glasses and looked back to us. "And as you all can see, we are all cosplaying today!" I could almost see the hearts and glitter in her speech. "I thought it would be more fun that way! Can you guess who we are?" Before anyone could answer, she shouted, "That's right! COWBOY BEBOP! Guess what characters we are!"

I tried to resisted the urge to roll my eyes and mouthed a "what the fuck" over to Lee. He shrugged and we redirected our gaze to our insane bosses.

"You guessed it!"

_Did anyone actually guess?_

"I'm Faye Valentine! Shizune is Spike Spiegel—"

Shizune shrugged. "I thought it'd be easy," she muttered.

"—and Naru-boy here is Jet Black!" Karin started clapping in excitement. _She's nuts. _This_ is the main person in charge? I am going to die… this is going to be the weirdest sum—_

I didn't get to finish my thought.

"What the fuck are you supposed to be, Naruto?" The girl named Tayuya spoke up. I glanced over at her.

_She must know him from before_.

"What _is_ that?" She pointed to his arm.

"This?" Naruto looked down, admiring his (lack of) craftsmanship. "This, my good friend, is my cyborg arm!" The stupid smile plastered across his face did nothing to increase his intellect. I couldn't avoid rolling my eyes this time.

_And this idiot… is my boss?_

Sure he was good to look at, but an idiot is an idiot regardless of looks. And to be honest, his looks weren't good enough to support him in life.

"Alright, everyone stand up!" Karin spoke up. "We're going to play an ice-breaker game!" It was all I could do to hold back a groan. The inner me just about died.

_WHY OF ALL THINGS ARE WE DOING AN ICE -BREAKER? HOW OLD ARE WE? _ Outwardly, I simply stood up and pushed in my chair. _THIS BETTER NOT MAKE ME FEEL LIKE A DUMBASS!_ The inner me continued to rage.

"Okay, so we're going to go around the room and you have to say one word that describes you and also begins with the same letter as your first name! For example, I am kind Karin." Naruto burst out laughing.

"_You_? Kind? Outrageous!" He was bent over laughing at this point. Even Shizune hid a chuckle.

"SHUT UP YOU BRAT! Oh!" Karin's attention once again back on the rest of the newly hired staff. "And when you say your adjective and your name, you also have to do a dance move, just to make things more interesting." I could almost _hear_ the wink in her tone. "And then everyone else has to repeat your adjective and name as well as copy your dance move! As we go down the line, the next person has to repeat all the previous people's adjective and name, but you don't have to copy the dance." [2]

_Kill me now_.

"Okay, so I'll start. I'm kind Karin!" Boss-lady proceeded to jiggle what Mother Nature gifted her with by doing the most atrocious shimmy I had ever seen. And then we repeated.

"Kind Karin." Atrocious shimmy.

"So now Shizune has to say my self-described name and then make up her own with a dance."

"That's kind Karin," she pointed to the redhead, "and I'm slender Shizune." She then whipped out an awkward version of the Sprinkler.

"Kind Karin." A series of shimmies. "Slender Shizune." Sprinklers.

_Why did I even want this job to begin with?_

"AND I'M—"

"IDIOT! You have to repeat ours first!" Karin raged.

Naruto apologetically scratched the back of his head. "Oh yeah, my bad. So that's 'kind' Karin, followed by not-so-slender Shizune," glares from both women, "and I'M naaassstayyy Naruto." He said with a wink, doing the Running Man. Everyone laughed.

"Yup, he sure is nasty," piped up Tsuchi.

"You would know," came his retort.

"Yes. Yes I would."

I think my eye twitched.

Once again, we repeated in unison, and unenthusiastically copied the dances.

"Oh! It's my turn now!" Tsuchi gave us a wicked grin. "Okay. Soooooo there's kind Karin, slender Shizune, nasssstaaay Naruto and I'm _tasty_ Tsuchi!" She winked, licking her finger and then touching her ass, adding the sizzling sound for effect.

"Ooooo! I _like_ that!" Naruto gave her a hi-five and they both burst into a fit of laughter.

I mentally rolled my eyes. _And this is Naruto's friend, huh? He really _is_ an idiot._

Again, copy, repeat, mental slap.

_Oh fuck, it's my turn_. I hadn't thought of a decent word to describe myself with.

"Uh… kind Karin, slender Shizune… nasty Naruto… and…. uh… tasty Tsuchi."

_Talk about an awkward list of words._

And I'm… uh… Slick Sakura?"

S_lick? That's the best you could come up with? Maybe _you're_ the idiot here._ I mentally berated myself and continued to embarrass myself with doing the Cabbage Patch.

The next half hour or so went on in this manner as we were all introduced. After me was sexy Suigetsu, talented-in-bed (_why are all these adjectives sexual in some way?_) Tayuya, keen Konan, tipsy Tezuna, good-in-bed Guren, delicious Deidara, loveable Lee and zazzy Zabuza. [3] Not to mention all the random "dance" moves that people came up with.

"Wasn't that fun everyone?" We all looked at Karin in disbelief. _Did she really think that was _fun?_ The woman is crazy. _I glanced over at Lee to express my thoughts. _Wait… that idiot is actually enjoying this bullshit. WHY AM I FRIENDS WITH HIM?_ Lee was currently dancing around, to the beat of non-existent music. Cue, mental slap.

"Okay, and I _really_ want you guys to remember everyone's name, so we're going to play _another_ ice-breaker!"

_YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME. _I face palmed and sat down, looking at the time on my cell. Only 9:00 a.m. We weren't going to be done until 5:00 p.m. This was going to be a _long_ day.

**A/N: **Sorry, kind of a long, boring chapter, but the characters needed some introducing. Things will pick up soon.

[1] murse. As in man-purse. It's a word. Use it. ^_^

[2] yes. This is a real game.

[3] yeah, I know, most random grouping of characters right? Tezuna is an EXTREME side character in Naruto btw. I think she was only in one episode. If you want to know who these characters are, try checking .com . it's an EXCELLENT source of Naruto-related information. Or if you want, I can link you to the character descriptions. But in all honesty, it's probably not that important.


	3. Chapter 02

**Disclaimer: **I don't own anyone. If only I did…

**A/N: **Okay, just to clear things up, the setting of this fic is somewhere in America at the made-up University of Konoha.  
Also, sorry for taking so long to update Been busy with school... _

* * *

***~*~* Chapter 02 *~*~***

"Sakura! What are we doing for dinner tonight?"

"I don't know. What do you want?" I stood, walking over to Lee's food stash. I was hanging out in his room tonight. After spending so much time together during the past semester, it felt weird to not be around each other. "We need to go shopping. You don't have much food in here, and my room isn't a whole lot better."

"Oh! Let's order pizza!"

"Sounds good to me! Do they still have the two mediums for $10 deal?"

"Yeah I think so." Lee bounced up and down in excitement. "Okay I'll put the order in."

Training was finally over, but overall it was just boring and not that helpful. The most I learned was that our staff was made up of a lot of perverted, hilariously sarcastic people. They were a fun group, but also had a lot of potential for drama. One of the higher ups who worked in the office even predicted that our staff would turn into an episode of The Real World.[1] As of now, they seemed more fun than anything.

During training, we did a few "how to deal with this situation" role-plays, a lot of poster-making—it was like we were high school planning a pep rally—and more manual labor than I would have thought this job required. The role-plays but they were kind of stupid and to be honest, I still didn't remember what all the acronyms stood for and which paper was for what and where to write whose name… it was all very confusing. All I knew was there was a giant binder with different colored papers for various tasks and logs. I was beginning to doubt my capabilities.

The manual labor was a lot more difficult than it originally sounded. We had to transport a hundred-plus trash bags filled with linen and pillows from the school cafeteria (why the hell was it being stored there?) to the dorm. It doesn't sound too bad, but imagine a bag filled with 50 sets of sheets. It's heavier than you'd think. Now imagine lifting this bag and throwing it into a cart, filling said cart with similar bags of heavy linen, and then having to lift the bags out of the cart after transporting them. One giant pain in the ass if you ask me. On top of that, I'm a little on the short side so having to get the bags at the bottom of the cart was definitely a challenge. I never imagined that I would sweat so much from this job. But I did it without complaints and even got a few compliments on my work ethic. The tough-looking guy, Zabuza, mentioned more than once that I was a lot stronger than I looked. Damn straight I was! We then had to put sets (mattress covers, sheets, blanket, towels, cups, soap, postcards, etc) into EVERY room. Twelve floors. About 30 rooms per floor give or take. You do the math.

It took us half the day to just transport and sort out all the different things. Half of us divided everything into sets (two sheets, a blanket, two towels and a pillow case) while the rest of us delivered the sets to each room. Lucky for the people dividing, they were in an air-conditioned room while they worked. My group, on the other hand, was going back and forth between a room filled with cold air and a building filled with the heat of summer. Guess I got the short end of the stick. It was my own fault though. I volunteered to be in the group that had to run around the whole building. Naruto was in charge of that group—not that that was my reason for choosing it. I would rather do manual labor than sit around doing mindless work. In any case, I was beginning to think we were going to be doing a lot more than what was written in the job description.

It was hard work, but I got to know some of my group members a little better during that time—Naruto included. He was our boss, but he worked his ass off like the rest of us so it didn't really feel like he was a higher-up.

~_Flashback~_

"_I want nobody, nobody, but you._" Clap, clap. Point. Clap. "_I want nobody, nobody, but you_." K-pop sensation, the Wonder Girls, sung by none other than my blonde-haired boss, Naruto Uzumaki. The idiot was dancing around in between the rooms as he went in and out with sets of linen. I couldn't help but smile.

"You really like K-pop, huh?" I laughed

"Sure thing!"

"Yeah, that's _all_ he listens to." Tsuchi rolled her eyes. "He definitely fails at being Japanese."

"Hey, I'm only half!" Naruto pointed to his blonde hair to emphasize.

"You _bleached_ your hair!"

"Did not!"

The two continued arguing, Naruto randomly pausing to sing the chorus and dance along with the song. _What did I sign up for when I took this job? I wonder if he really is a natural blonde…_ I stopped my thoughts before they could go any further.

"Wait, so you like K-pop too, right?" Naruto questioned.

"Yeah, definitely!"

Tsuchi looked at me, scrunching up her face. "Seriously? You guys aren't even Korean!"

"Hey, you don't have to be that ethnicity to like their music." I shrugged.

"That's what I always tell her! She just doesn't believe me." Naruto turned to Tsuchi. "Just wait, one of these days I will convert you!"

Tsuchi just rolled her eyes and continued working. "But you don't even understand what they're saying! What's the point? Give me some music in English and I'm a happy girl."

"Psh. Whatever. You don't have to know what they're saying, as long as it sounds good, right Sakura?"

"Well…" I laughed. "I can kind of understand them. I've studied some Korean here at UK."

"SERIOUSLY? TEACH ME!"

I shrugged. "I can if you really want."

Naruto dropped the sets of linen he was holding in the cart and ran up to me, grabbing my shoulders. In the most serious tone I've heard him use since I got the job, Naruto looked into my eyes and said, "Please teach me. It is my dream to be Korean."

I stared blankly at him. I really couldn't tell if he was being sarcastic or not. "You're gonna have to keep dreaming then, buddy. You're born the way you are and no amount of dreaming is going to change your ethnicity." I replied just as serious.

Naruto crumpled to the floor in defeat. "Why must you crush my dreams so completely!" he wailed.

Tsuchi stared at him before looking back up at me. "I apologize for my friend here. He forgets how old he is sometimes."

I laughed. "No problem."

"Wait, so you're studying Korean? But didn't you say that you're taking Japanese right now for summer school?"

"Yeah."

"You're crazy."

"A little." I shrugged. "I like a challenge." I looked at Naruto who was still in a heap of agony on the floor. "So… this is our boss, huh?"

Tsuchi looked down at him. "Unfortunately, yes."

"This is going to be an interesting summer…"

~_End Flashback~_

_Knock, knock, knock._

"Who's that?" I asked around a mouth full of pizza.

He shrugged and stopped dancing around the room to answer the door. "Maybe one of our new friends from staff!" He suggested excitedly, finishing off his own slice of pizza.

Lee opened the door. "Hello, my children!" Naruto greeted us with a smile.

_Ohmygodohmygodohmygod. What is he doing here?_ My inner fangirl seriously needed to get it together. _And did he just call us his children? _"Hey, Naruto!" I said out loud, walking over to the door. "Hi, Shizune," I added, noticing her standing in the hallway.

"Hey," said Shizune.

"Hello!" Lee greeted enthusiastically. "What are you two up to?" He looked back and forth between our bosses anxiously. Sometimes the guy seemed like an excited puppy that wanted to play with everyone he came in contact with.

"We're just doing rounds," Shizune answered. Naruto and Shizune had to do the first night of rounds. Starting tomorrow—I had the first shift with Tezuna—the rest of us would be covering rounds every day. She yawned. "I'm so tired though."

"And I'm hungry!"

"We have some left over pizza if you want," offered Lee.

"Really? YES PLEASE!" Lee went back inside to grab a slice of pizza for Naruto.

I looked at the time. "It's only a little after midnight though!" I said, addressing Shizune. Lee returned, handing a slice of cold pizza to Naruto.

"But I usually sleep by eleven."

Lee and I stared at her.

"I'm an old lady, I need my sleep," she grumbled, giving us a sour face.

"Surely you aren't _that _old…" Lee trailed off.

"I'm twenty-eight."

"EH! Okay, you're definitely _old_." Naruto burst out laughing.

"These _are_ our bosses, right?" I whispered to Lee. He nodded.

Naruto finally stopped laughing. "Nah, I was just joking. You can go sleep though, Shizune. I'll finish rounds tonight if you want."

"Are you sure?" Shizune looked up at him, eyes half closed.

"Yeah, don't worry about it. You can count on me!"

"Okay. Goodnight guys." Shizune turned to leave, barely walking in a straight line.

Naruto stuck around and ended up hanging out in Lee's room with us, trading stories and just getting to know each other better. We found out that he was 21, only a couple years older than the both of us. It was kind of a strange experience. It seemed like Naruto had no problem talking about himself and opening up to us, people he hardly knew, but at the same time it was like he was holding something back. He told us about his weird family situation. He never knew his parents, but his guardian, Iruka, took him in and was the closest thing he had to a father. We also learned that Naruto failed in most aspects of life.

"Are you serious?" I exclaimed. I couldn't believe this guy.

"What? There's nothing wrong with that…" he trailed off.

"You honestly did _not_ learn how to make instant noodles until you were _EIGHTEEN?_ How is that even possible?"

"I don't know! Cos whenever I wanted noodles, Iruka made them for me!"

Rock Lee just stared at our boss in shock.

"How have you made it through life up 'til now?" Naruto shrugged at my question.

"With my good looks and charm?" He gave me what he thought was a winning smile.

I face-palmed. "Are you delusional?" I asked skeptically. "Have you _looked_ in the mirror?"

"Whatever." Naruto pouted. "I could make the cup noodle kind at least!"

"Oh, because boiling hot water and pouring it into a Styrofoam cup is _so_ difficult." I rolled my eyes.

"Well, see? I'm not a _complete_ idiot!"

"Now Sakura, he _is_ our boss! You should show some respect!"

"Thank you, Lee!" Lee gave Naruto a thumbs up. I rolled my eyes.

"Oh wait, I have another story!"

"If you're trying to impress us with your intellect, you're failing miserably." I joked. I really couldn't tell if I liked talking to this guy or just thought he was a complete idiot.

"Haha, I'm just trying to make you guys comfortable around me!" I rolled my eyes for what must have been the hundredth time that night. "Okay, so nothing that has been said tonight leaves this room okay? It doesn't leave this circle of trust," he said, drawing a circle between us. "Hmm… there's three of us… more like a triangle. Okay, nothing leaves this triangle of trust!"

"Triangle of trust?" I repeated skeptically.

"You can count on us!" exclaimed Lee. The guy was seriously too enthusiastic about everything.

"Okay, now keep in mind that this was two years ago. I was a young and naïve freshman," he began.

"Did you really do something so stupid that you have to have a disclaimer?"

"Shut up, Sakura. I'm just saying… I was young and naïve. I've grown a lot since then!"

"Have you now?" I questioned raising an eyebrow, my tone laced with sarcasm.

"Let him tell his story, Sakura."

"_As_ I was saying," Naruto continued, "I was young and naïve. Okay, so you know at the cafeteria how they have the hot water maker thing to make hot chocolate with?"

"Yeah."

"The caf has the best hot chocolate EVER!" Lee had a chocolate addiction. Just hearing the word got him excited.

"Yeah, so I was done with dinner, but I _really_ wanted some hot chocolate," Naruto continued. "So I go over, open a pack of hot chocolate into a cup and then turn to the hot water maker. I pressed the button, but no water came out! I thought something was broken or something, so I went to the hot water pot next to it, pressed the button, but the same thing. No water! So I'm standing in front of the hot water pot, pressing the button over and over, and no water is coming out! I even opened the pot to make sure that there was water inside! I honestly couldn't figure out what was wrong. And then some guy next to me was like 'Hey bro, you need some help?' and then he pressed the 'unlock' button and held down the other button to make the water come out." Naruto finished his story laughing.

"Are you serious? The unlock button is RIGHT NEXT to the water dispenser button! It even SAYS 'unlock' in giant letters on it! I couldn't believe it! I broke into a fit of laughter. Lee looked bewildered and unsure what to say. He typically didn't insult people who he's not particularly close with, but Naruto's idiocy was just asking for it.

"You… didn't read the button? There are also directions of how to use the hot water dispensers right next to them. The signs are pretty big too…" Lee trailed off.

"Yeah, but who reads now-a-days?" Naruto shrugged unconcerned. "Plus, I was _young_ and _naïve_!" Naruto said in his own defense, almost whining at this point.

"More like young and stupid," I corrected before bursting out into laughter. Even Lee began to laugh at the lack of content Naruto had in his defense.

"Whatever, I've grown since then." He pouted.

"How? Because you can make _instant_ noodles now? That hardly counts!" True, Naruto was my boss, and true, I didn't know him very well yet, but he was just one of those people you couldn't help but tease, especially when he told us stories like the water dispenser one. How could you _not_ call him out on that one? Plus he was only a couple years older, so it was easy to forget that he was our boss when we weren't at training or behind a desk working.

Naruto hung out with us a little longer before announcing he was tired. "It was nice talking to you guys, but I'm beat. Time for some beauty sleep!"

"Yeah, you definitely need it." I said, earning myself a playful glare.

"Whatever, Sakura. I think _you_ need it more than me."

"Wait, but don't you have to finish rounds?" asked Lee.

Naruto scrunched up his face. "Nah, it's no big deal. No one did rounds last summer. Plus, we don't even have any guests here yet. It's just you, me and the rest of the staff." Naruto had our job positions last summer and moved up to being one of the big guys in charge this year. "As long as Shizune doesn't know, it doesn't matter. Karin said it herself, 'What she doesn't know won't hurt her.'"

_Did Karin really say that?_

"You'll learn. Shizune's kind of crazy. I'm the chill boss." He yawned. "Anyway, time for sleep. I'll see you guys later!"

After the door closed behind him Lee turned to me. "That's not right. He should still finish the rounds even if there are no guests staying here yet."

I was actually thinking along the same lines, but instead I shrugged. "Yeah, maybe. But if they never did it last year, it can't be too bad, right? Even Guren was saying they slack off a lot. She worked here last summer too." Lee looked unconvinced. "I mean, it's not like we're a real hotel. We're all students, Naruto and Shizune included. Well… maybe not Shizune, but the rest of us are students. _College_ students. They can't be expecting _too _much right? And it's the first night. Relax." Or maybe I was just giving Naruto the benefit of the doubt, but honestly, it wasn't too big of a deal.

Lee didn't say anything, but I could tell he wasn't exactly happy.

"Is something wrong?"

He just shrugged, mumbling something about Naruto that I'm pretty sure wasn't a compliment. I brushed it off, not giving it as much consideration as I probably should have.

* * *

[1] For those of you who don't know, "The Real World" is one of those drama-packed, incredibly scripted, stupid reality shows that people are so addicted to.

**A/N:** Okay! That was chapter two… let me know what you think? Too boring? Pace too slow? Full of awesome? Haha I'm still trying to improve, so critiques are welcome! Compliments to boost my already large ego are also appreciated :3


	4. Chapter 03

**Disclaimer: **I don't own anyone. If only I did…

**A/N:** I keep getting sick, so I'm not able to update as often as I had intended. Sorry guys bear with me

also I used line breaks instead of the *~*~* to separate scenes cos the "*~*~*" doesn't work anymore o_O

* * *

*~*~* Chapter 03 *~*~*

It was a summer Saturday night. I was doing homework. Summer school hadn't started yet. Something wrong with this picture? Lee went home to visit family and wouldn't be back until late, so I didn't have anyone to hang out with. I wasn't that close with the rest of the staff yet, and I had homework (even though classes didn't start until Monday) to do anyway, so I guess it worked out. My lack of concentration was an issue though.

A flashing window on my computer screen caught my attention.

I sighed, shoving my books to the side, resigned to the fact that I would _not_ be getting any homework done today. Seriously, being online when there's homework to be done is never a good idea. I still had Sunday to finish up so I wasn't too worried, but I also had my first desk shift and I didn't feel ready for it.

I looked up to see who was instant messaging me.

**KibaIsWin:** Sakuraaaaaa  
**KibaIsWin:** what's new with you?

Kiba. An ironically formed friendship back in high school. I actually used to think he was the most idiotic person in the world. Actually, I pretty much still thought the same, but I was more accepting of it than I used to be. My previous opinion of him was so low that I didn't even remember being in the same classes as him since middle school. He's told me many times since we became friends, but other than senior year, I don't remember him being in any classes with me. Either he tended to lay low or I was extremely self-centered. Probably a little bit of both.

**KibaIsWin:** when are you coming back?

I left my hometown, choosing to go to a college thousands of miles away on the other side of the continent. I had my reasons.

**KibaIsWin:** i HATE it here!

I smiled. Some things never change.

**CaffeineAddict:** lol  
**CaffeineAddict:** your choice to stay. you coulda left like i did

Don't judge me by my screen name. Okay, judge me. I'm fully aware of my caffeine addiction, but hey, a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do. I was surviving on energy drinks, coffee and five minute naps—the college student's way of life. I need caffeine to function. Sue me.

**KibaIsWin:** nooo I couldn't! MONEYYY *sad face*

**CaffeineAddict: **get a job

**KibaIsWin:** I HAVE ONE!

**CaffeineAddict:** work harder

**KibaIsWin**: I AM!

**CaffeineAddict: **hahaha… good luck?

**KibaIsWin:** …. bitch.

**KibaIsWin:** anyway  
**KibaIsWin:** so what's new with you?

**CaffeineAddict:** not much  
**CaffeineAddict:** finished training for my new job  
**CaffeineAddict:** i'm on call tonight and was on call last night too  
**CaffeineAddict:** cos I'm covering for Lee… he went back home to visit his family… yay for 48 hours on call!

**CaffeineAddict:** but at least i can sleep. i'm secondary so i won't get the initial call if anything happens

Being on-call was generally a pretty shitty deal. We had do rounds—going through all the hallways on every floor and make sure there was nothing wrong (broken windows, drunk people in the stairwell, creepers in the hallway, etc). It was insanely time consuming. We also had on-call phones and had to answer any and all calls regardless of the time of day. I was a little nervous at first because I wasn't exactly sure how everything would turn out. I had heard stories about being on-call. People getting locked out of their rooms, people complaining about everything and nothing at the same time, basically, people just being people. Lucky for me, I was the secondary on-call for my first two shifts so I wouldn't have to deal with the problems directly and would only need to help out if the primary contacted me. At least my first on-call shift with Tezuna—the a-little-more-than-pleasantly-plump girl—wasn't too bad. We decided to do the rounds together instead of splitting the floors between us and had some good conversations. We talked a lot about training week, the staff, and our bosses so it made the time pass by a little quicker.

_~Friday Night: 9:21 p.m.~_

Tezuna and I were doing our second set of rounds, checking to make sure the building was quiet since quiet hours started at 9:00 p.m.

"Do you think it was fair that Naruto busted ass with us when we were setting up the rooms and Shizune just sat in the A/C room doing paper work? I heard a lot of people grumbling about it." Okay, so maybe that was more my thought than other people's, but I heard other people mention it too.

Tezuna considered my question. "Well, the way ah see it, Shizune _does_ have more experience than Naruto. Now ah ain't sayin' it was fair, but yeah. It is what it is." She shrugged.

"Yeah that's true."

"Ah don't know, but Naruto sure is a hard worker. Not sayin' that Shizune isn't, now. She was probably doin' some kinda paperwork. Desk work is just as important as manual labor," she stated in her southern drawl.

"Yeah, but Naruto and Shizune are at the same level right? Even if Shizune has more experience, their job descriptions are the same."

"Yeah, it's really difficult to say at this point. But it's true, they _are_ the same level. They should be trainin' Naruto s'more so he can be at the same level as Shizune, or Shizune should be doing grunt work with the rest of us and helpin' us out like Naruto is. They need tah even it out a bit more."

"Agreed."

_~Present_~

I still wasn't very sure as to why there seemed to be such a huge gap in Naruto's and Shizune's work load if they held the same position. It bothered me a little bit, and it bothered a few other people too. I just hoped that it wouldn't escalate into something bigger than it needed to be.

I went on to tell Kiba about my bosses and my thinking that Naruto was cute.

_Wait, I actually told him that? Ah… that was definitely not planned…_

Apparently I've gotten more casual about my opinions of boys since high school. Back in the day I wasn't typically the one who went all ga-ga for a pretty boy with nice hair. In fact, quite the opposite. It was kind of a hobby of mine to lower the self-esteem of egocentric pretty boys. Except for Sasuke Uchiha, but he's a different story—or maybe the cause of my sudden bashing of boys. I couldn't tell anymore. The bastard took up too much thinking power and emotional energy. I didn't have the time to keep wondering why he walked out of my life.

I also told Kiba about Naruto wanting to learn Korean from me. Was that a sign of interest? When a guy asks a girl to teach him something, they usually don't actually want to be taught anything, do they? I could never tell. Reading the signs, signals, messages and whatever else was read between boys and girls was always the hardest material for me to analyze. There's just no consistency to any of it!

I guess in the end, it didn't really matter. Sure, I thought he was cute, but that was it. Because one, relationships were a no-go for me, and I wasn't a slut looking for a quick lay either so that was definitely out of the picture. And two, I was leaving for Japan after summer ended so it wouldn't make sense to start anything _anyway_. Three, he was a couple years older than me and would most likely be graduated by the time I came back from studying abroad in Japan. Four, NO. Five, HELL NO. Scared? Probably. Scarred for life? Yes. Very. Everyone's got their demons, right? All in all, it was a pointless option to consider. And so, I resigned myself to enjoying the almost-eye candy while I could. And for some reason—that is really quite beyond me—I told Kiba all of this.

**KibaIsWin:** hahahahahaha yea, but you should just milk him

Leave it to Kiba for words of wisdom.

**KibaIsWin:** okay, so what's this guy's name? i need to add him on facebook

Leave it to Kiba to also be the creepy, stalker friend.

**CaffeineAddict:** and why, pray tell, would i tell you his name? you're such a creeper!

**KibaIsWin:** oh wait, nevermind, you mentioned his name right?  
**KibaIsWin:** naruto was it?  
**KibaIsWin:** oh look! i found him through your friends!

You have _got_ to be kidding me…

** CaffeineAddict:** WHY ARE YOU SO CREEPY! DON'T ADD HIM! I DON'T KNOW HIM THAT WELL

YET!

**KibaIsWin:** hold on, let's webcam!

I clicked the connect button. The face of my idiotic friend popped up on my computer screen.

"Hey Sakura!" The idiot waved.

"What the fuck, Kiba! You're not seriously adding him are you?"

"Look it's raining!" fake rain drops started falling in front of his face. I face palmed.

"You don't need to play with the video effects EVERY time we webcam. It's the same every time… nothing changes." I rolled my eyes

"Rawr. I'm a wolf!" An image of a wolf was placed over his face, with only his eyes showing through. I shook my head, rolling my eyes yet again.

"Seriously, you're _not_ adding him are you?"

"Who?"

"Naruto."

"Oh, right!"

"So you didn't add him?"

"No. I did."

"WHAT THE HELL KIBA YOU BETTER BE JOKING!"

"I'm not!"

"That's so awkward-creepy! He's gonna know I talk about him now!"

"No, no. Don't worry, I'll delete you as my friend so he doesn't know that I'm your friend." Kiba's smile was incredibly unconvincing.

"Are you serious? YOU FREAK! PLEASE TELL ME YOU ARE STILL LYING! DAMMIT KIBA!"

Kiba was laughing now. "Sorry, I'm not."

"You're not what?"

"Lying."

"No. You HAVE to be lying. You're not THAT much of a dick!" I logged into facebook, checking to see if we were still listed as friends. I searched Kiba's page… and saw the "add as friend" button. Face palm.

"No shit. You really did delete me. OH MY GOD KIBA!" I raged at him. If only I could punch through the internet! I took a deep breath. "Okay, you deleted me… but you didn't add him right?"

Kiba looked confused. "Of course I added him!" He grinned. "Why would I not?"

"IDIOT!"

"That's why I deleted you." He smiled innocently at me.

"Oh my God, Kiba. If you weren't thousands of miles away, I would rip off those stupid red tattoos on your face!" The inner Sakura rage was coming out full force.

"You wouldn't dare!" He donned a faked shocked expression.

"Kiba…" I all but growled out.

"You're over-reacting, Sakura. It's no big deal."

"I am NOT over-reacting Kiba!" Okay, maybe I was. "He is my BOSS! Who I JUST met like, a WEEK ago! I don't need him thinking I'm some kind of creepy, ga-ga fangirl who ogles him when he's talking!"

"... but you _are_, aren't you?" Kiba looked honestly confused.

I slammed my face into my desk. "Whatever, Kiba," I mumbled, face still pressed into the wood. I let out a sigh. "So much for first impressions."

"Okay, okay. I'm sorry. Tell you what, when you finally come back home, pizza's on me!"

"IT BETTER BE! YOU FREAK!" True, I was watching my weight, but I couldn't help it. I LOVED pizza.

Kiba just laughed. I dropped the Naruto topic for now. Somewhere in the back of my mind I was still hoping Kiba was just pulling my leg. You could never tell with him. We went on to talk about everything and nothing, as most good friends tend to do. I still didn't get how we became friends. I seriously hated him when we were in high school. I guess you just never know who's going to pop into your life and who's going to fall out.

I looked at the clock. It was almost 2:00 a.m.

"Alright Kiba, I have to go. My first day of work is tomorrow."

"I thought you were working right now? Aren't you on-call?"

"Yeah, I mean my first desk shift is tomorrow. We have to put in two shifts per week, so I decided to just do a double shift on Sundays. That way I have the week to do homework and whatever."

"How studious of you."

"Yeah, you know me. Gotta get the best grade!" I laughed. I was joking, but not really. I've been a 4.0 student since before I could remember.

"Haha, yeah, learn to live a little."

"Someday… but seriously. I gotta go. Work starts at 9:00 a.m., but I wanna get there a little earlier, just in case."

"Okay. Good luck! Night, Sakura!"

"Night!" I closed the webcam box. Hopefully I'd be able to sleep. Sleep hadn't been coming so easily lately, and I really needed to sleep so I could function at work the next day. I was being kept awake by thoughts that I could certainly live without.

Memories of Sasuke Uchiha and unwanted memories of Shibire were conflicting with Naruto's appearance into my life. Okay, so I was attracted to the unnaturally tanned blonde, but that didn't mean I liked him. Not like that anyway. I hardly knew the guy for goodness sake. I wasn't about to make that mistake again. The experience I had with Shibire was more than enough to keep me from wanting another relationship (could you even call what we had a relationship?) anytime soon. The guy was a disturbed and fucked up person. Maybe that was a little harsh, but as far as I was concerned, it was the truth. I could only hope that Naruto wouldn't end up the same way.

Only time would tell.

* * *

_Mawaru mawaru sekai wa mawaru_

I rolled over in my sleep.

_Tatoe boku ga inakunatte mo_

Half asleep, my hand searched my bed for my phone.

_Warainagara, shiran kao shite sonna mon sa jinsei_

I accidentally clicked "ignore" instead of "answer," but I was so sleepy it didn't really register.

_BEEP. BEEP. BEEP._

I bolted awake. "Shit." I looked at the time. 9:10 a.m.

"_FUCK!_" I jumped out of bed. "Crap, crap, crap."

_BEEP. BEEP. BEEP._

I ran to the secondary on-call phone. "Hello?"

"Hey Sakura, you coming down?"

"Yeah, sorry Tezuna! I'll be there in five minutes tops. Sorry!"

I heard laughter on the other line. "Yeah no problem." _Click._

"You _can't_ be serious!" I complained to no one in particular. I got ready in record time and was downstairs in the lobby in four minutes. Yeah, I don't know how I did it either.

"Good morning sunshine!" Rock Lee. I had forgotten we arranged so that his shifts were right after mine. We had planned to keep each other company during our separate shifts anyway, so might as well get it all done at the same time. Thank God we planned that ahead of time. "I tried calling you."

I checked my phone. "Crap, I think I hung up on you in my sleep. Sorry!"

"Don't worry about it." Lee laughed. "Tezuna came down to open the desk, but I was here so nothing to worry about. I figured you overslept." That was another duty of whoever was working the on-call shift. They had to open the desk (all the binders, chairs, cashbox and everything else was locked in the storage room every night so idiots didn't steal it) for whoever was working the next morning.

"You're a life saver, Lee!" I tossed my backpack onto the desk and began setting up my laptop, preparing myself for the longest nine hours of my life. Each shift was only three hours, but since I was working a double shift _and_ staying for Lee's shift after, it was going to be a long day.

For all my previous worrying, working at the front desk wasn't that difficult. If anything, it was mostly boring and uneventful. Thankfully, I had Lee to keep me company and save me from being bored out of my mind. Random other members of our staff came down to visit and keep us company as well, including Naruto.

"Hey guys!" Naruto greeted me and Lee, walking around the desk to sit with us. "How's it going?" He sat down between us.

"Not bad," Lee answered.

"Mostly boring," I added.

"Great!" Naruto grinned, putting his hands behind his head as he leaned back in his chair to stare at the ceiling.

"What are you up to?" I asked.

"Oh, not much. Probably going to go to the beach today. Gotta maintain my beautiful tan!"

"You just look dirty," Lee snorted.

_This is good. Lee normally doesn't joke around with people unless he likes them and feels comfortable around them. Wait, why is it good that Lee likes Naruto?_

My conversation with myself distracted me from what I can only assume were a few more friendly insults passed between the two boys.

"Whatever, at least I don't still use bowls to cut my hair."

"At least I don't wear atrociously bright colored clothing!" Lee argued back, indicated Naruto's bright orange shirt.

"Says the boy who can only wear green," I chipped in.

"Agreed!"

"Hey! Who's side are you on, Sakura?" Lee whined.

I shrugged. "No one's. I call 'em as I see 'em. And you, my dear friend, need to STOP with the green shirts and leggings. Who even wears leggings anymore? That was what, the 90's? 70's?"

Lee pouted. "Whatever. At least I don't have unnaturally colored hair!"

"Nothing wrong with a little color!" I retorted.

"Um…" The three of us stopped our bantering, noticing a guest awkwardly standing in front of us, waiting to be helped.

"Oh, sorry! How can we help you?" I asked. I ended up checking the man into our almost-hotel without the help of Naruto or Lee. They continued to trade insults for a while before Lee got tired of it and went to playing mindless games on the laptop he brought down to the front desk.

"Good job!" Naruto remarked after I finished helping the guest.

"Why thank you Mr. Boss, sir!" I smiled. "By the way, did you still want me to teach you Korean?

"YES!"

I laughed at his enthusiasm. It rivaled that of Lee's. "Haha, okay. First, let's teach you the alphabet." I wrote out all the hangul on a piece of paper, explaining how they combine when writing and teaching him the sounds for each letter.

"Fuck. This is hard." Naruto said, scrunching up his face.

"Nothing in life is easy, buddy."

"Okay, I'm gonna learn this! But first I gotta do some work too." Naruto took the paper with hangul written on it with him to the office behind the front desk where we were sitting. A few minutes later I heard Miss A's "A Bad Girl, Good Girl" coming from the office. I turned around, peeking in to see Naruto watching the music video on youtube.

"That doesn't look like work!" I called.

"I'm multitasking!"

I laughed. Lee shook his head, muttering something under his breath. I heard Naruto humming and singing along from his office. _Well, at least my shift won't be boring._ I smiled to myself, checking the time. Three more hours and I was home free.

* * *

It was after 9:00 p.m. by the time we were finally done with our shifts. We went up to Lee's room to have a healthy college diet of instant noodles.

"He probably just wants in your pants." I looked up at Lee, shocked at his sudden, off-hand remark. He seemed to notice my reaction. He shrugged. "What? Why else would he want to learn Korean?"

I shrugged back. "I don't know, maybe cos he likes it? I mean, he _does_ like K-pop and all that."

Lee rolled his eyes. "Please. He's a boy!"

"So? You are too, aren't you?"

"Yeah, but he's _straight_. He sees you as a walking vagina."

"What?" I exclaimed, wide-eyed.

Another shrug. "It's true."

* * *

**A/N: **The ringtone song is Miyavi's "What a Wonderful World"


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